The percentage of Oklahomans who smoke is lower than ever before, according to new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control.
As KFOR reports,in 2015 a little over 22 percent of Oklahoma residents smoked tobacco. As of last year, the rate had fallen to 19.6 percent.
In hard numbers, that means the number of adult smokers in Oklahoma fell by almost 72,000 in the 12 months from 2015 to 2016.
The lower rate moves Oklahoma to 36th nationwide for percentage of residents who smoke. That’s an improvement of nine spots over the previous year. Nevertheless, the 19 percent rate is still higher than the national average rate of 17 percent.
But there was more good news last week: 2016 marked the first year that obesity rates dropped in the Sooner State since 2011.
The figures come courtesy of an announcement from the Oklahoma Department of Health.